Re: XYZ has been released

[Todd Graham Lewis <tlewis mindspring net>]

On Wed, 17 Mar 1999, Dean Elhard wrote:

> A number of the tarballs seem to
> have obsolete or erroneous .spec files. (eg. freetype failed to install
> two header files which are required by freetype.h, several of them have
> a
> release of SNAP, several have old version numbers), but I managed to
> work
> my way through all of the 'Required library sources' packages, and then
> tried to compile gnome-libs-1.0.3.  After updating the version in the
> .spec file, it compiles everything and then doesn't build the rpm.
> 
> If you are going to release the rpms, it would be nice if they could be
> used on a box-stock RH5.2 system, or, if they are going to require egcs
> and glibc-2.1, that this be stated as a requirement.
> 
> So should I bail on trying to build rpms from the tarballs, reinstall
> the
> egcs-compiled RPMS, and upgrade to egcs and libc-2.1, or can someone
> tell
> me what I need to do to the .spec file to make this sucker build.

Since I have no official connection with the project, I am going to say
something that the RHAD guys or Miguel or some of the more senior guys
are too polite to say.  I think that some people might be misunderstanding
the nature of this project.

This is a _free software_ project run by _volunteers_.  I am a volunteer,
Miguel is a volunteer, Raph is a volunteer, Stuart is a volunteer.
Owen and Federico are not volunteers, but they are awesome programmers
who work on stuff like GTK and the canvas; they don't do spec files,
because it'd be a waste of their time.

If you see that the spec files are broken, THEN FIX THEM!  If you see
that debian packages haven't been made, THEN MAKE THEM!  If you can't
do this, then teach yourself until you can.  If you can't teach yourself
to do it, then sit quietly until someone else does.

Dean, it appears from your posts that you are a perfectly proficient Linux
guy who can handle the task of building these packages for stock RH5.2.
Maybe it will take you a little work to do it, but that's part of the fun,
right?  You've already done half of the work by fixing your spec files.
Why don't you finish up your work and then submit it for inclusion?
I bet that Miguel would even give you commit privs if you asked for them.

Free software is like baseball: there's no crying in baseball!

--
Todd Graham Lewis            32°49'N,83°36'W         (800) 719-4664, x22804
******Linux******         MindSpring Enterprises      tlewis@mindspring.net

"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood."          -- George S. Patton